Scooore!

Oh, boy! I went to the International Quilt Festival in Long Beach and had myself quite a time! I had a nice room to myself with my sewing machine set up on the bed and my knitting in the closet, took two classes, and shopped!

Books I couldn't live without.

Tools I couldn't quilt without.

My beautiful needle-case and my prize for being teacher's pet.

What I just couldn't resist.

Bunnies! Bunnies! It Must Be Bunnies! *

Oh, my goodness! I just saw the funniest online video: Dr. Horrible! I laughed so hard... and I finished my bunny. The bunny body, excepting ears and tail is made from a simple square of knitting. Cool, huh? Here's a link to the pattern. Tiny got "Eastern Lights" quilt today. She was so happy, she threw it over her head, stuck her arms out and hugged it. Yay!
*"Once More With Feeling"

The Flip Side

As you can see, the second side of Tiny's dress is moving right along. I had to pull out the straps a couple of times, but I think I'm on the right track now. I may even get the straps all sewn together by next Saturday and be ready to sew up the sides! Can I get a ya-hoo?I was at my knitter's group in Point Loma today. Gosh, there must have been eight or nine of us: what a nice bunch of women! Knitting in company really helps. There were three women (including me) working on the same project. Bev's working in burgundy, Maura in khaki.
Funny movie: Fido. It's a zombie movie in the style of a 1950's Lassie film. Both The Man of The House and Tiny enjoyed it.

Doing the Happy Dance!

Happy dance! Eastern Lights has been:

1. Pieced
2. Assembled
3. Bordered
4. Quilted
5. Bound
6. Labeled

I win! Tiny's turning fourteen in two weeks. She knows this quilt is hers, but I think she can wait until then to receive it. Happy day!

1. 

A Journey Begins with but One Small Step

...or something like that. I have to keep repeating that quote to myself as I work on moving my projects forward with the little goals I set. This is the progress made on the "Red Thread" project going at it 15 minutes a day.

However....
I did set aside my goals for a day and worked solely on cross backs for the quilting ministry. We like to have a cross of some sort on the back of each quilt. As the Scrap Queen, I want to use up some of those scraps filling four bins in my studio, so I scrapped the crosses! Here's the back (and the front) of a quilt we named "Tic Tac Taffy." Lynda did the front--the pattern's called "Barbara's Antiques." Yeah, I don't get it either.
There's a little more room in the scrap bins, now!

Detail of cross back

And look what little goals do: only a few inches left on this binding. And I came up with a name: "Eastern Lights."

Laundry Day

...and I've been a busy girl! I got some more work done on the Oriental Lantern quilt. Only got about 5' left on the binding so, at 1'/day.... well, you do the math. Then I've got to come up with a fabulous name, make a label, and sew it on.
I'm off to do the rest of my daily goal, kids. Wish me luck. Oh, and for those who like zombies, here's a little fun: zombie poll.

Goal Ghoul

Time to re-evaluate my daily goals:

1. Basketweave Dress: 4 rows/day (more is fine) That's working out well--I'm often above 4 rows and now have 142 rows to go--that makes 32 days!
   
2. Girl Scout Vest: 4 patches/day Done!
   
3. Fiction: read 10 pages/day (more is fine) Finished the book club selection, Mercy, this way. I think I'll keep it up but add in non-fiction as well.
   
4. Exercise: 30 minutes/day (more is fine) Ultimately I should go for 60 minutes
   
5. Bible: read a day's worth from the Victory Bible Reading Plan every day. Still working on it, but I am getting through this best-seller!
   
6. One housewifely chore a day. (more is fine, but puh-leeze!) (sigh)
   
7. Binding Oriental Quilt: 1'/day (I made that up just now; we'll see how it works out.) Haven't been doing very well here; must redouble effort.

You can see the dress is moving right along!

So, the new goal list looks like this:

1. Basketweave Dress: 4 rows/day (more is fine)
   
2. Fiction/Non-fiction: read 10 pages/day (more is fine)
   
3. Exercise: 30-60 minutes/day (more is fine)
   
4. Bible: read a day's worth from the Victory Bible Reading Plan every day.
   
5. One housewifely chore a day.
   
6. Binding Oriental Quilt: 1'/day
   
7. And a new one: 15 minutes of cross-stitch on something I already started
   

Just Under the Wire!

It's 10:37 pm, June 30, and I just finished my June installment of the Red Thread Stitch-Along. Phew! I did almost the whole thing today, which included accidentally stitching the trailer in red and pulling it back out again. I didn't like the charted color of the car, so I changed it to yellow. Does it look too much like a school bus to you?

Tiny (formerly known as DD) got her braces off today; talk about a happy camper! What a pretty smile.

Really Amazing Theatre

Okay, there's a joke in the title of this post, but you'll have to see the show to get it.

This afternoon I went to the theatre with some of the girls from my knitting group. The show was called "The Male Intellect: the Second Coming." A one-man-show, it was hilarious! Here's a link to what he does: Robert Dubac. Who knew cigarettes were so useful? We had a grand old time.

Thank Heavens for Little Goals

Get the Maurice Chevalier reference? Anyway, I've been making progress on long-term projects by setting little goals:

1. Basketweave Dress: 4 rows/day (more is fine)
2. Girl Scout Vest: 4 patches/day
3. Fiction: read 10 pages/day (more is fine)
4. Exercise: 30 minutes/day (more is fine)
5. Bible: read a day's worth from the Victory Bible Reading Plan every day.
6. One housewifely chore a day. (more is fine, but puh-leeze!)
7. Binding Oriental Quilt: 1'/day (I made that up just now; we'll see how it works out.)

See! The basketweave dress is moving right along!

And I have amnesty. I refuse to chastise myself for forgetting or not getting around to it. That may work for some people, but I've never been a fan of negative reinforcement.

There should be a cross-stitch goal, but it can wait until the vest is done. Only one or two more days on that.

Progress so far on the vest Patches left to sew on